The Present Disclosure relates, generally, to a card connector, and, more particularly, to a card connector which enables the holding spring portion for holding the card module to be displaced when the card connector houses a card module, thereby increasing the holding force used to hold the card module inside the card connector, and more securely holding the card module.
Electronic devices typically include card connectors to allow various types of memory cards to be used. An example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-003678, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional card connector. In FIG. 8, 811 is the housing for a card connector made of an insulating resin material. This includes an accommodating portion 818 for accommodating a card tray 961 in which a card (not shown) has been loaded. The card can be, for example, a SIM card, which has electrode pads (not shown) on its bottom surface. These electrode pads are exposed on the bottom surface of the card tray 961. A plurality of terminals (not shown) are arranged on the bottom plate portion of the accommodating portion 818 to match the arrangement of the electrodes on the card. A cover member (not shown) is attached to cover the housing 811. A card tray 961 is inserted into the space formed between the bottom plate portion of the accommodating portion 818 and the cover.
The interior of the housing 811 includes a compression spring member 882 for applying a biasing force in the direction discharging the inserted card tray 961, and a lock member 821 for locking and holding the inserted card tray 961 inside the housing 811. The lock member 821 is a cantilevered plate spring made from a metal plate, and an engaging protruding portion 821a and an operating protruding portion 821b are formed in the tip. The card tray 961 includes a rear plate portion 963, a top plate portion 962 extending forward from the rear plate portion 963 and covering the upper surface of the card, a spring receiving portion 972 protruding from the side end of the top plate portion 962, and an engaging protrusion 973. As shown in FIG. 8, when the card tray 961 is inserted into the housing 811, the front end of the spring receiving portion 972 comes into contact with the rear end of the compression spring member 882 and receives the biasing force of the compression spring member 882.
When the engaging protrusion 973 engages the lock member 821, the card tray 961 is held inside the housing 811 against the biasing force of the compression spring member 882. When the card tray 961 is removed from the housing 811, the rod-shaped ejection operation member 822 is operable, and the operating protruding portion 821b of the lock member 821 is displayed outward in the width direction at the tip of the ejection operation member 822. Because the engaging protrusion 973 of the card tray 961 and the engaging protruding portion 821a of the lock member 821 are disengaged in this way, the biasing force of the compression spring member 882 discharges the card tray 961 from the housing 811.
However, in the card connector of FIG. 8, the engaging protruding portion 821a of the lock member 821 and the engaging protrusion 973 of the card tray 961 remain engaged and the card tray 961 is held inside the housing 811 because of the spring action of the lock member 821, which is a cantilevered plate spring. If the card connector is subjected to external forces such as vibrations or a shock when the electronic device in which the card connector is dropped, the external force may cause the engaging protruding portion 821a of the lock member 821 to become displaced to the outside in the width direction, and to disengage from the engaging protrusion 973 of the card tray 961. Further, if a force is improperly applied to the rear plate portion 963 of the card tray 961 in the direction of discharge for the card tray 961—that is, the card tray 961 is improperly pulled out instead of performing the proper ejection operation on the card tray 961, the engaging protrusion 973 of the card tray 961 may simply become disengaged.